The polio vaccination drive in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s merged districts was hampered by a worsening security situation, resulting in population displacement that left the majority of over 935,000 children under the age of five—targeted for immunisation in 2025—unvaccinated, a local government official said on Friday.
The official, who spoke to The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity, said that a jirga was held on December 24 at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, which had set January 5 as the official deadline for evacuation from Khyber’s Tirah area. However, residents had begun leaving earlier due to worsening conditions.
He added that people displaced from South Waziristan moved to Bannu, while those from North Waziristan relocated to Dera Ismail Khan.
The official said that in Bajaur, evacuations took place at the local level; however, many people moved from surrounding areas to Bajaur city and still chose not to return to their native areas.
Explaining the challenges in tracing unvaccinated children, the official said that a 31-point agenda was presented and agreed upon during the jirga. He added that the local government had promised displaced families a monthly compensation of Rs50,000, an unprecedented move.
Previously, he said, displaced families were accommodated in camps set up in major provincial districts. This time, however, cash assistance prompted many to relocate to other areas. As a result, tracking children who missed vaccinations has become increasingly difficult.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 19 polio cases were reported among children in K-P in 2025. These included four cases each in North Waziristan, Lakki Marwat and Tank; one each in Dera Ismail Khan and Lower Kohistan; two in Torghar; and three in Bannu.
A health department official, who asked not to be named, said that staffing and operational levels for WHO and UNICEF programmes in the merged districts were reduced last year, while WHO funding was also curtailed, affecting the coverage of vaccination campaigns.
Read: Pakistan built a world-class Polio system. Then 40,000 Karachi families said no
In Sindh, officials said more than 12,000 children under five were recorded as missed during the final polio campaign of 2025 in Hyderabad and adjoining areas. Most refusals were reported in Cantonment localities and municipal towns including Hussainabad, Preetabad, Qasimabad and Tando Jam, with absent households and parental refusals cited as key reasons.
According to campaign data, the final nationwide anti-polio drive of 2025 vaccinated more than 44.6 million children across Pakistan. Punjab reported 22.9 million children vaccinated, followed by Sindh with 10.6 million, K-P with 7.15 million and Balochistan with 2.58 million.
Officials said coverage in Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir also contributed to the national tally. They added that challenges in the merged districts reflected localised disruptions within specific high-risk areas.
